


Call Me On And On (Across The Universe)

by DeMarcos



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Ficlet, Gross misuse of Cisco's powers, Introspection, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-28 06:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12600604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeMarcos/pseuds/DeMarcos
Summary: A tense encounter in the lab has Cisco wondering about the nature of his relationship with Harry.





	Call Me On And On (Across The Universe)

Screwdriver in hand and a string of expletives on his lips, Cisco jiggered with the device seated precariously in his lap. Jiggered was probably not the correct terminology, as he was one step away from jamming the screwdriver directly into the heart of the damn thing. Realizing he needed to back away from the task before he murdered the tech he'd spent nearly a solid eighteen hours cobbling together, Cisco followed his instincts, setting the device down on his worktable, the screwdriver beside it, and immediately covered his face with his hands. He didn't even care that his palms were sweaty, or that his hands were shaking a little, he just needed to get rid of the pounding behind his eyes.

"Finished that cerebral inhibitor yet?"

Cisco nearly jumped out of his skin at the gravelly voice, and that was _exactly_ what he needed at that moment, his heart to burst out of his chest from the adrenaline rush of being startled.

"Does it _look_ like I finished it?" He snapped harshly, voice echoing off the walls as he dropped his arms to glare at Harry. "No, it _doesn't_ , because I _haven't_." It was almost second nature to be short with Harry, like breathing at this point, but his frayed nerves bled through his tone, which he recognized only after Harry's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Sorry, I'm just..." Cisco waved his apology, as if the vague motion would explain everything.

It did, apparently, as Harry nodded in acceptance and continued on into the lab like nothing had happened. Pulling out a chair across from Cisco, Harry sat down and reached for his tablet, tapping away at the screen in silence, as though he were completely alone in the room.

Cisco found himself appreciating Harry for the silence, instead of harping on him to pick up the pace, belittling his intelligence and his very existence in the process. Silence was definitely better, allowing him to regain his bearings before taking another crack at the inhibitor. He rubbed at his scalp, trying to massage away the headache, to minimal success. Cisco needed a good night's sleep, food that wasn't from Big Belly Burger, and a stroke of monumental genius that wouldn't wait to come to him until the eleventh hour.

A tall order, given the givens, but a man could dream, right? Tucking his curled hair behind his ears, Cisco sighed in resignation. He side-eyed the inhibitor as though it had insulted his mother.

"You need a break, Ramon." Harry chimed in unhelpfully, sensing that most of the angry tension had seeped out of the room. "Before you burn out."

Cisco turned that narrow eyed scowl on Harry. "Tell me something I _don't_ know."

"Okay," Harry quipped easily, "you'd have better luck keeping the prongs secure if you removed the compressor."

Ripping his gaze away from Harry, Cisco stared down at the inhibitor. "Dude..."

"Piece of advice, when you're barely able to stand up, it's best not to keep working. That's how you lose your fingers." Harry trailed off, a reminiscent tenor to his gruff voice. "Or half your face..." He snapped back to the present as quickly as he drifted off, and waved a brusque hand at Cisco. "Go. Go home, go now, sleep in a real bed, not on a cot. Maybe take a shower while you're at it. Your _oh so precious_ curls are starting to wilt."

Cisco's fingers immediately went to his hair, to confirm that yes, in fact, he needed to shower. He lowered his hand slowly and shrugged nonchalantly, to play it off like he hadn't been fazed by the comment. "Jeez, Harry, keep that up and people will start to think that you _care_."

"I care about getting the work done, and keeping people from _dying_ , but that won't happen if you're too stubborn to let anyone help you, or too tired to see straight. Besides, if that means I get a moment's peace while you rid yourself of your sleep deprived induced stupidity, then everybody wins."

Cisco's expression turned sour. "It's like you're trying to be nice, but don't know how to." He knew firsthand that Harry lacked certain social skills, like how to express emotions, aside from anger and snarkiness, and that whenever he tried to come off as an actual human being who loved his family and friends, it more often than not failed spectacularly. It was why he had forbidden Harry from the lab, because every effort to help just made Cisco want to scream. Too much was on the line and Harry had channeled that into epic levels of being an asshat. "No wonder Jesse gave you the inter-dimensional boot." Cisco sniped quietly. She was his daughter and even she wasn't exempt from his lapses in emotional depth.

He blinked when it looked like he'd punched Harry in the gut. His body didn't fold over, but his face sort of crumpled in on itself, before he regained his composure. He shook his head with a self-deprecating huff of laughter before standing up. Harry walked over to Cisco, who shrunk back in his seat to brace himself for retribution, afraid he'd crossed some heretofore unseen line, and was shocked when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I, uh..." Harry glanced away and cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable but earnest in his attempt to make amends, "that thing you always want me to do..."

"Apologize for being an insufferable jackass?"

Harry looked back at Cisco with narrow eyes, but nodded in agreement anyway. "Yeah, that." Clearing thinking that was enough, he barreled on, despite Cisco's exasperation that he hadn't actually apologized. "I want this inhibitor to function properly, and for that, you have to be at a hundred percent. So I'll be a fresh set of eyes and work on the compressors, while you go home to get some rest." Harry gently shoved Cisco off the chair and onto his feet.

Cisco didn't mean to vibe Harry. He hadn't exactly learned to control that certain aspect of his abilities, but in the barest millisecond when Harry's fingers brushed his neck as he pushed him, Cisco's consciousness was transported somewhere else.

He immediately recognized the vintage art deco-esque interior of Harry's office at Star Labs on Earth-2, and the irritated expression Jesse's face as she loomed over her father's desk, glaring down at his seated form.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you need to take a break from this place. Go on vacation or something, relax, clear your head for a while. Just... do _something_ before things get ugly around here."

"If things are going to get ugly, it's because you've insisted on surrounding yourself with morons. I picked a fantastic coterie of people to assist in your training and you refused to work with them.”

“Uh, _duh_ , because they were all afraid of you and went along with whatever overprotective nonsense you spewed if I even so much as chipped a nail! They were awful and I’m glad I replaced them. It’s _my_ team, after all.”

“You're better than them, and you deserve a better team, the team I painstakingly selected, not-"

Jesse sliced her hand in the air to cut him off. "Dad, _stop_. When everyone around you starts resenting your presence, maybe stop thinking it's them and start thinking it's _you_."

Harry leered up at Jesse. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything. I'm _imploring_. This team, this mission, you've made it your whole life and I think you need to take a step back. Go to Coast City, or National City, somewhere with palm trees or a beach, and take a break from all this." An odd expression danced across her cherubic features and Cisco got the impression that she was going to use their conversation to dip her toes in the waters of something that had been on her mind.

"Maybe you should go to Earth-1 for a while, get to know Wally better, maybe hang out with Barry and Caitlin and Cisco..."

Cisco had been around Jesse enough to recognize that she had put just a little note of emphasis on his name, nothing overt but definitely hinting at something.

"Why would I want to be around them when I can be here, making sure you don't get killed dealing with those-"

" _DAD_! How can you call yourself part of a team when you won't give anyone on the team a chance to prove themselves?! At least you actually like Barry and Caitlin, and get along with Cisco!" There was that strange emphasis again, almost like she was begging her dad to understand what she was saying.

"Barely." He retorted, going for aloof but it wasn't convincing enough for Jesse.

"C'mon, I've said it before, I've said it a hundred times, you're different when you're with them. Different that you are with my team, anyway. It might be good for you." Cisco watched as she steeled herself for what was coming next. "Besides, I'm sure Cisco would appreciate having you around, so you two could tinker around the lab, stop some rampaging meta, and bicker like an old married couple, y'know, just like the good ol' days." Jesse moved around the desk to stand beside Harry, and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "Wouldn't you like that, instead of being here by yourself?"

It was Harry's head, so on top of being able to experience his memories, Cisco could experience his feelings, which up until that point had been overwhelming frustration, yet undying love for his daughter. It had weaved itself into the memory, so much so that Cisco could feeling it bleeding into him, the bottomless well of love for Jesse. But her comments about him had Harry's feelings shifting into a state of entropy. Irritation, unspoken admiration, begrudging respect, and... something that bordered on... something directed at _him_...

"I'll think about it." Harry replied indifferently, arching an eyebrow wryly at Jesse's ability to somehow see right through him, right _into_ him. "Now let's quit dawdling and get back to training."

And just like that, the emotionally charged moment was over. Jesse let out a groan of exasperation and hung her head.

In a blink, Cisco was back in his own lab, staring at Harry, who was gripping his shoulders, staring back at him searchingly, on high alert for whatever impending danger he was seeing.

The second Harry saw he was back, he gave Cisco a shake. "That, what you just did. You vibed something. What is it, what did you see?"

It was if Cisco was seeing Harry in a whole new light and he floundered for a plausible lie, not wanting to reveal what he'd seen, what he'd _felt_. Harry knew all about his powers, how they worked, and if he wasn't careful, Harry might suspect that his surface thoughts, brought on by his sudden display of concern for Cisco's health, had allowed him to go back to that day with Jesse in his office. So Cisco decided to lie by using the truth, that they were all worried for their lives, and took it from there.

"I saw that night, when Zoom had Jesse in the cortex." He feigned his concern at reliving that moment. "You're too anxious about everyone dying, man, maybe it's _you_ who needs to calm down and get some rest."

Harry rolled his eyes at him and released his hold on Cisco, seemingly believing him. "Get out of here, Ramon." He said gruffly. "I'll have this thing up and running by the time you get back."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks." Cisco continued staring at him before remembering not to give himself away. He quickly gathered up his things and headed out the door, pausing for a moment in the hallway. "Goodnight, Harry."

That caught Harry off-guard, such a cordial interaction between them, but he nodded his head. "Goodnight."

On that note, Cisco made his way toward the elevators, his thoughts reeling. He didn't know what to think about the revelation. For as close as he was to Dr. Wells, it had been the exact opposite with Harry when they'd first met. For a long time, he had resented Harry for having his face, despite the fact that they were two entirely different people - _literally_ , as he'd never gotten to meet the real Dr. Wells, only the bad guy in disguise version of him- but that resentment had faded long ago. His hurt and sense of betrayal hadn't been Harry's fault, and coming to terms with that led to them becoming sort of friends. But now that he knew how Harry truly felt, or was beginning to explore what he felt, Cisco had to reevaluate everything he thought he knew.

They still butted heads constantly, never missing a chance to take a swipe at the other, or embarrass the other publicly, but underneath all that, Cisco knew that Harry cared about what happened to all of them. He didn't always show it the right way, but it was obvious in everything he did. You didn't selflessly risk your life for a world that wasn't your own if you didn't care whether the people in it lived or died. And the feeling was mutual, even if sometimes, he wanted to breach Harry into a volcano or a dimension of nothing but blenders. But isn't that how it was with the people who were most important to you? Or was it different between the two of them, because Harry was closer to him than anyone else?

Stepping into the elevator, Cisco didn't know if he'd even be able to sleep like Harry had all but ordered him to, with what he knew now. Deciding what to do with that knowledge would make sleep even harder, because it was one thing to know how Harry felt, but it was another to know how _he_ felt. And Cisco didn't know how he felt. It was too much too fast, which is why he figured sleep would still elude him. But it wasn't like it was the end of the world.

The inhibitor would work, Barry would save the day, _again_ , and if it took time to figure out just where he and Harry stood, or what they meant to each other, that was just fine. If there was one thing he learned from Barry over years, it was that sometimes, not everything was a race to the finish line.


End file.
